Women kidnapped, children massacred and thousands from the Alawite minority escaping to the mountains for asylum from other atrocities reportedly carried out by Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces – The Jerusalem Post reached out to two Alawite civilians from Syria and Israel to learn more about the events taking place in Syria’s coastal region.
“The situation is disastrous,” E., an Alawite civilian contractor from the area of Jableh in the coastal region of Syria, told the Post. “They are killing children and women. There is an ethnic cleansing going on here, they leave nothing behind, they kill everyone, and it’s all documented on video,” he added, referring to horrendous videos circulating online showing humiliation, degradation and mass killings happening in Syria.
“I don’t understand what their idea is. It’s Islamist Jihad, they probably think they need to get rid of the ‘infidels,’” E. added, terror in his voice. “For them, children are infidels, women are infidels, everyone is an infidel. Women are being taken to Idlib. I don’t know what to tell you, we are in a dire situation, people are literally hiding in the woods.”
When asked to convey what had happened since the collapse of the Assad regime, E. said, “Since the collapse of the regime, the former regime’s army simply disappeared. Thousands were released from prison, and everyone who had any relation to the army deserted.”
“After that, people began to get stressed. The new government failed to take control. They suddenly started kidnapping young people randomly. Some defied them because of this. We saw some protests and clashes and there was shooting at the protesters. From there everything became worse,” he added.
E. described the situation across the coastal region as a set of ghost cities and towns, some blocked by the new regime’s loyalists. “Banias was purged, and so were entire areas such as Al-Qusur and Al-Muruj. There is no one left there. They took people from there, tied them to cars and dragged them on the streets. They’re all using racist rhetoric. Many of us fled to the mountains,” he said.
When asked if those committing the atrocities were armed gangs or official forces belonging to the regime, E. said, “The armed gangs are the regime! It’s all the same, they all belong to Ahmad al-Sharaa.”
As for the numbers of casualties, estimated by some organizations to have reached almost 1,000, E. claimed that many thousands are missing or dead. “We have no way of really knowing how many there are, as this is not over yet. We are blocked from reaching our towns, we are not allowed to collect the bodies of our dead, some were dispersed at sea, entire cities were wiped out,” he added. “The regime takes UN observation forces to areas where nothing happened, trying to convince them that all is well.”
When asked if he has a message for the Israeli government, E. said, “We need someone to save us – to support us, to help us, to protect our people. Our cities are burning and the people cannot speak. Before this, with the old regime, we lived in extreme poverty; and today we live in terror and catastrophe. The Alawites were always a peaceful people.”
Israeli Alawite: ‘Syrian Alawites beg Israel for help’
B. is a doctor from the tiny Alawite community in Israel. “We are a very small community. Our religion believes in humanity. We hold that there is no difference between Muslims, Jews and Christians. In the Alawite village in Israel, Ghajar, you will see the ‘Garden of Peace,’ with symbols of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. We are an open religion that is far from any of the nonsense of extremism,” he said.
According to B., the Alawites were always persecuted and discriminated against, especially on the background of their different religious affinity, “but the main theme of our religion has always been harmony, love and peace.”
Ghajar is the only Alawite village in Israel, located in the Golan Heights. Today, it boasts some 3000 residents, which have been under Israeli rule since 1967. “We are people who are connected to the state and support the State of Israel; we know that Israel extends its hand for peace,” he said.
For decades, special arrangements were made with the UN so that citizens of Ghajar could study in Damascus. “I had many friends from Damascus who initially hated the Jews; they would ask me if the Jews tried to eat me,” B. said.
However, since the civil war broke out in Syria over a decade ago, these arrangements were frozen.
When asked about the religious affinity of the Assad regime, B. sighed. “People considered him part of the Alawite religion, but he never showed any affiliation to our religion, and many of us were never loyal to him and to his regime. The regime decided to shake hands with foreign forces for political reasons. In our opinion, it was a mistake and we knew that it would lead to a disaster and now, here we are,” he said, referring to the dire situation of the Alawite community in Syria.
B. is planning to meet with Israeli officials in an attempt to promote a protective Israeli umbrella to the Alawite community in Syria. “There are five million Alawites in Syria, and many of them are begging for Israel’s support and protection,” B. said.
“We know that there’s tensions with Turkey, but as Israel did with the Druze, so it should be done here too. Just like us, they can be loyal to Israel. They know that only here can they live in dignity with no oppression,” he added.